Nasal hemorrhaging is commonly treated by packing the nasal cavity with an absorbent material. The absorbent material serves two purposes. First, it absorbs the blood thereby preventing possible aspiration of the blood by the patient. Second, it averts the flow of blood by applying pressure to the ruptured blood vessel thereby acting as a hemostat.
At present, there are a number of devices which apply hemostatic pressure to control a nasal hemorrhage and absorb blood associated with the hemorrhage. However, several of these devices require that they be manually inserted. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,504 to Doyle issued June 21, 1977 and entitled "Nasal Hemostat And Method Of Construction of Nasal Hemostat" employs an expandable absorbent material contoured to conform to the nasal cavity, but which must be inserted and positioned by hand.
Also, typical prior art devices must be formed or adapted at the time of use. For example, a surgeon will typically trim a piece of expandable absorbent material to the appropriate size, attach a suture to the absorbent material in order to facilitate retrieval, and manually insert the device into the patient's nasal cavity. The absorbent material expands upon contact with the blood. This expansion results in hemostatic pressure being applied to the ruptured blood vessel thereby arresting the flow of blood. The absorbent material is then retrieved from the nasal cavity by means of the attached suture.
The prior art devices require a significant amount of manual manipulation, are time consuming to use, and result in a significant amount of patient discomfort. Accordingly, the need exists for a device which can quickly, relatively painlessly, and with a minimum of manual manipulation inject an expandable absorbent material into a hemorrhaging nasal cavity.
An example of other body fluid-absorbing devices, which are used in a different application, are the catamenial devices. Such devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,332 to Brecht issued Jan. 2, 1962 and Entitled "Applicator", U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,929 to Brecht issued Sept. 17, 1963 and entitled "Catamenial Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,713 to Sargent issued Aug. 27, 1963 and entitled "Tampon Applicator"; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,225 to Voss issued Mar. 18, 1969 and entitled "Hygienic Devices and Methods of Making The Same". These devices inject an absorbent material into the female vaginal cavity during menstruation. A barrel which is circular in cross section, and a cylindrical plunger constitute the means for injecting the absorbent material. However, these devices would be inappropriate for use in the nasal cavity for several reasons. First, the absorbent material used in these catamenical devices is meant strictly to absorb menstrual blood flow. The absorbent material in these catamenical devices is not meant to apply hemostatic pressure. Second, since the bone and cartilage structures of the nasal cavity define a substantially rectangular cross section, the circular cross section of the barrel and absorbent material used in the catamenical devices would be inappropriate for use in the nasal cavity. Third, the length of absorbent material used in the catamenial devices would be inadequate for use in the nasal cavity.